Produttori del Barbaresco, Barbaresco 2016

Produttori del Barbaresco is a benchmark producer of Nebbiolo and one of the world’s great co-operative winemakers. Reformed in 1958 following decades of closure, the revived Cantina Sociale comprised 19 families who banded together to survive, making the first three vintages in a church basement before moving across the street to their current location. Today they are owned by 51 families and are the single most important producer of Nebbiolo in the world. Dedicated to making only Nebbiolo, the co-operative insists that if you sell them any grapes, then you must sell them all of your grapes – none can be kept back to make an own label or super cuvee. It means that this Barbaresco producer is a reference point for the style, and a beacon of value and quality.

The benchmark wine here is the standard Barbaresco DOCG 2016, utterly pinpoint perfect and one that everyone should have in their wine rack or cellar at home. The vintage is perhaps the finest I’ve ever seen in Italy (and in many regions) with perfectly ripe fruit directed by the most brilliant precise acidity and tannic tension. Delicious now it would be ideal to enjoy over the next decade or more of your life.

The 2016 Barbaresco is a stunning wine with tremendous richness for this bottling. Ample, deep and powerful, the 2016 exudes pedigree and class from start to finish. I can't remember a straight Barbaresco here with this much fruit density and unctuous richness, and yet there is more than enough tannin and overall structure to give the wine its classically leaning feel. A blast of sweet red cherry fruit, tobacco, menthol licorice and smoke hits the potent finish. What a wine! 94 Antonio Galloni, Vinous